U.S. Water News Online
LAKE TAHOE, Calif. -- With water no longer spilling from Lake Tahoe, the flow of the Truckee River is becoming more of a trickle, shrinking the likelihood of a fully-watered growing season in the Lahontan Valley next year.
The level of Lahontan Reservoir, where the valley's irrigation water is stored, is at about the same level as this time last year. But at that time Lake Tahoe still overflowed into the river that feeds Lahontan.
Although it's too early to predict what lies ahead for next year's crops, Truckee-Carson Irrigation District Engineer Dave Overvold said, "we're going to need a bigger snowpack (this winter) than we got last year."
The district is still diverting everything it can from the Truckee River at Derby Dam to help fill Lahontan Reservoir, but Overvold said it will still be well below its target storage level by the end of the growing season.
The flow of water below Tahoe has dropped substantially, even with the help of water TCID owns and is releasing into the river from Donner Lake. That water will run out soon, Overvold said.
The flow through the Truckee canal is also low enough that the district will likely soon start rationing water meant for Fernley-area farmers.
Those farmers in the Truckee Division of the Newlands irrigation project will still get 100 percent of their water allocation, according to the district, but farmers may have to take turns irrigating.
There soon won't be enough water moving through the canal to water two farms at once, Overvold said. Some farmers will have to take their water at night if they want to get their full allocation.
With 77 percent of the average growing season having gone by, Newlands Project farmers have used about 82 percent of their water. No end date has been set for the irrigation season but it generally wraps up in the middle of November.
Overvold says the district's operations appear to have been highly efficient again this year. The district has exceeded its federal efficiency goal in each of the last four years. Overvold said there were very few canal breaks this year, saving the district "a lot of water" and a lot of money. He credited the happily uneventful year to experienced ditch riders.
Even the most efficient irrigation practices may not save the local farmers from a water shortage, however, if northern Nevada's five-year drought extends another year.
"We do need to be watching the snowpack this winter," Overvold said.
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